Organizations (e.g., corporations, universities, etc.) are moving away from traditional personal computer (PC) desktops in favor of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). VDI refers to the use of computer virtualization technology to provide centrally-managed desktops to users at remote client devices. More specifically, a software emulation of a computer is used to execute programs in the same way programs would execute on a hardware computer. The software emulation of a computer in such a context is referred to as a “virtual machine” (VM). A VM can be configured to provide a “virtual desktop” to a user. In such arrangements, the virtual desktop is executed on a remote central server, instead of on the local storage of the client. Therefore, when users work from their client device, all of the programs, applications, processes, and data are stored and run centrally, allowing users to access their desktops on any capable device, such as a traditional personal computer, laptop computer, smartphone, thin client, etc.
One advantage provided by VDI is that significant portions of the software environment can be centrally operated, maintained, patched, upgraded, backed-up, protected, and managed. The staffing hours required by organizations can be considerably reduced and higher levels of performance, availability, and reliability can be achieved.